Cristiano Ronaldo’s Ban Could Be Reduced On Appeal

Ronaldo Could Be Available For Manchester United Return

Cristiano Ronaldo could appeal his red card and receive just a one-match ban instead of three games.

That’s the view of BT Sport pundit Rio Ferdinand following Ronaldo’s dismissal in Juventus’s opening Champions League clash with Valencia on Wednesday night.

Ronaldo saw a red card after just 29 minutes when he clashed with Valencia defender Jeison Murillo. The Colombian went down under a challenge from the former Real Madrid forward. When Ronaldo remonstrated the Portugal international appeared to grab Murillo’s hair and was given a red card by referee Felix Brych. It is believed the assistant referee behind the goal alerted Brych to the hair-pull. Ronaldo was in tears as he left the pitch.

The offence carries a maximum three-match ban which would see Ronaldo miss his return to Old Trafford for the clash with Manchester United as well as the home game with the Red Devils.

But Ferdinand believes the incident wasn’t as severe as it first looked.

Ronaldo’s dismissal didn’t prevent Juventus from running out 2-0 winners in Spain. Bosnia-Heregovina Miralem Pjanic scored from the spot in injury time at the end of the first half. Pjanic then scored another penalty six minutes into the second half.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo believes his son Cristiano Ronaldo junior will never be able to scale his heights. The eight-year-old plays in Juventus’s academy system having moved to the Serie A club following his father’s £99million switch to Juve in the summer.

“He says he will be better than I but I think that will be difficult,” said Ronaldo.